EGYPT: Cairo Backs U.S. Against Popular Disapproval

During her visit to the region earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured the support of Cairo and other "moderate" Arab capitals for Washington's new strategy in Iraq announced by U.S. President George Bush in mid-January.

MIDEAST: Israel’s Economic Stranglehold a Silent Killer

Over the last year, Palestinians have faced a siege that has taken its toll in every city across the West Bank and Gaza. It is not a siege of missiles and gunfire, but a calculated attack on the backbone of the entire occupied territories.

POLITICS: Israeli Realism on Iran Belies Threat Rhetoric

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared last week at the Herzliya conference that Israel could not risk another "existential threat" such as the Nazi holocaust, he was repeating what has become the dominant theme in Israel's campaign against Iran - that it cannot tolerate an Iran with the technology that could be used to make nuclear weapons, because Iran is fanatically committed to the physical destruction of Israel.

SOUTH AFRICA: Avocados, Diamonds at Core of Anti-Israel Trade Campaign

A call from a South African trade unionist for national supermarket chains to stop importing avocado from Israel could ultimately lead to the banning of all imports from the Jewish state, if unions and human rights activists have their way.

LEBANON: Donors Buy Government Time, Not Peace

Representatives of 50 industrial countries and international institutions have pledged 7.6 billion dollars to a recovery plan for Lebanon at a donor conference in Paris Thursday. The fresh aid certainly buys time for the embattled government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but it remains doubtful if it can buy it peace.

EGYPT: Constitutional Changes Override Opposition

Constitutional changes have been proposed in Egypt, but not in line with what the opposition had been demanding.

EGYPT: Muslim Brotherhood In the Dock Again

For the first time, President Hosni Mubarak has declared publicly that the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood group represented a "danger to Egypt's security". The President's statements came amid an ongoing government crackdown on the group, triggered by the appearance last month of what the official press has called an Islamist "militia".

POLITICS: Bush Urged to Make Israeli-Palestinian Peace Now

As U.S. President George W. Bush puts the final touches on his State of the Union Address, an unusually broad group of Middle East specialists here is hoping that he will make his proposed two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a centrepiece of both his speech and his last two years in office.

MIDEAST: Hebron Occupied, And Deserted

As the illegal Israeli occupation grinds on, the daily situation for Palestinians worsens by the day. Hebron presents a vivid picture of the cumulative face of this colonial project.

POLITICS-US: Democracy Languishes, but Neo-Con Strategy Lives

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) may have effectively closed up shop two years ago and its key neo-conservative allies in the administration, such as Scooter Libby and Douglas Feith, may be long gone, but the group's five-year-old Middle East strategy remains very much alive.

POLITICS: Western View of U.N. Vote on Burma a Hogwash

As the only politically-influential U.N. organ with powers of enforcement, the 15-member U.N. Security Council is considered the final arbiter in the world body.

LEBANON: Which Way Lies Democracy

Anti-government demonstrations held in downtown Beirut since Dec. 1 have sparked debate about democracy in Lebanon.

/CORRECTION*/POLITICS: Israel Looking for an Extreme Makeover

It hasn't been the easiest year for Israel.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Lebanon Destroyed, Destabilised, Desperate for Change

The 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah has left Lebanon heavily damaged and politically destabilised, with hopes for a better future only dimming as the New Year approaches.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Brave New Plans for Middle East Fall Apart

Israelis had been captivated by the idea. They could withdraw from Palestinian areas, which they realised they could no longer control, without having to negotiate with the Palestinians, whom they did not trust.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: The Year of Living Dangerously in the Middle East

Following the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, almost four years after the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Middle East stands at a crossroads.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Emboldened Opposition, but Few Real Reforms in Egypt

Domestically, the past year was a watershed for Egypt. It witnessed the emergence an empowered Muslim Brotherhood controlling roughly one-fifth of the parliament; a rebellion by reformist elements of the judiciary; and an embattled president vowing - but not yet delivering - a new era of political reform.

MIDEAST: Abbas Gambles with Another Election

Frustrated with the impasse in unity talks with Hamas, the usually unadventurous, risk-averse Mahmoud Abbas is embarking on what can only be described as the biggest political gamble of his long career - his decision to call early Palestinian elections.

EGYPT: Fearing Civil Wars, Cairo Counsels Restraint

While the situation in U.S.-occupied Iraq has slid further into chaos and sectarian strife, Egypt has watched anxiously as two areas closer to home - the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon - have also been roiled by the specter of civil war.

MIDEAST: Syrian Offer Appears Too Good to Be True

It would seem Israel is being offered exactly what it has been demanding for so many years from Syria: negotiations without preconditions. No insistence now by Damascus on Israeli readiness to make territorial concessions even before talks have begun.

POLITICS-IRAQ: Crisis Group Seeks ‘Clean Break’ in US Strategy

Warning that Iraq faces ''complete disintegration into failed-state chaos,'' the International Crisis Group (ICG) is calling on the United States to make a ''clean break'' in its strategy for both Iraq and the wider Middle East region.